Mechanical and load-settlement characteristics of two lunar soil simulants

Recently, attention has been devoted to problems of construction of facilities on the lunar surface. Due to the unavailability of real lunar regolith, experimental studies have relied on the use of lunar soil simulants, with two of the more common simulants being Minnesota Lunar Simulant and a simulant produced in cooperation with the Johnson Space Center. Since various studies have used either simulant, it is important to be able to compare the engineering properties of these two simulants when comparing the results of various studies. The purpose of this paper is to compare the physical and mechanical properties of these two simulants. The load-settlement characteristics of the two materials are compared by examining data from centrifuge model foundation experiments. The two simulants are quite comparable in terms of physical and mechanical properties. Differences in the load-settlement behavior as seen in model foundation experiments are due to differences in the specific gravity of the two materials. The mechanical properties of the simulants pose significant problems when attempting to use conventional stability solutions for the design of lunar facilities.